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Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Cheesedays 2010 were a mixture of family and fun, of heritage and rain. We camped, or stayed in cabins at a campground. (Neil's idea of camping is a hotel without room service) We cooked, for the most part, outdoors to observe tradition. It rained both Sat and Sun morning, each day, a downpour at breakfast time. The site was a smear of mud and smoke from fires that sputtered, applied evenly to the kids tearing around and screaming. Yup. It was just like the good ol' days at Devil's Lake!

....I cooked under the tailgate of the van and others stood under the tailgate of the suburban. A new meaning to the term "tailgating".............

............we had sticky buns from the Dutch oven. I made 4 batches from frozen and they all found owners..................

....Jake was in charge of the "omelets in a bag" which appears in a separate blog later. Both the buns and the bag are directly learned from Rex and Mary so the Happy Campers were there in spirit..............

............a fresh supply of kids, which we have missed, were supplied by cousin Eric Rechsteiner and his wife Chris, who came in from a Chicago suburb........

...... a special guest was Eric's brother, John, who got the prize for longest distance. He came in from Atlanta.........

Speaking of kids........................my random camera never caught Nathan and Jack, who brought their parents, Laura and Barry, from Green Bay, so they didn't make the blog picture album. But Annie did!!

This delightful little bug, daughter of Jake's girlfriend, Laurel. chased away all the rainy gloom. More Cheesedays to come...................

Monday, September 27, 2010

I CAN’T BELIEVE OUR WEATHER, IT’S STILL IN THE TRIPLE DIGITS HERE ON THE LOWER MOHAVE DESERT. IN FACT TODAY IT HIT 108 DEGREES. FRANKLY I’M SICK OF THE HOT WEATHER AND LONGING FOR THE DAYS OF “SUNNY & 80”.

THE SUN IS GOING DOWN AND IT’S STILL 101 DEGREES IN THE SHADE. THE HEAT KEEPS US INSIDE AND HERE IS SUSIE LAYED OUT ON THE BIG FAN WATCHING THE CIVIL WAR ON THE HISTORY CHANNEL WITH ME.

WE WERE UP EARLY AND HIT SPIRIT MOUNTAIN TO WATCH BRETT FAVRE PLAY FOOTBALL. HE REALLY IS FUN TO WATCH, AND I’M SAVORING EVERY GAME, AS IT IS SURE TO BE HIS LAST SEASON. OF COURSE IT ISN’T AS MUCH FUN AS LAST SEASON, BUT STILL A THRILL TO WATCH.

TONIGHT’S MONDAY NIGHT GAME BETWEEN THE PACKERS AND THE BEARS……

“ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL?”

WE WORKED FIVE DAYS THIS WEEK, SO NO ROADTRIP REPORT, BUT IT’S STILL THE SHOULDER SEASON, AND WE EXSPECT TO HAVE A COUPLE MORE ROAD TRIP REPORTS UPCOMING. MARY HAS THE PASSPORTS ALL DUSTED OFF AND I SUSPECT A TRIP TO THE MEXICAN BORDER.

THE WEATHER MUST BE TURNING IN SPOONER, AND UNCLE HANS HAS BEEN BUSY GETTING CAUGHT UP ON BLOGS FROM THERE.

Friday, September 24, 2010

There was an interesting set of pictures from Cable Lake from this summer that did not get made into a blog. Oversight , I guess. I have this old boat. (surprised? ALL my stuff is old). Three years ago, the oil injection pump failed and the motor, which was a real honey, was ruined. Turns out that the oil injection systems in the early models were so bad that the dealers routinely disconnected them and told the owners to mix their gas with oil like the old days. Kids are gone. Boat is low priority. Boat goes to garage to sulk. This year I found a new motor and decided to relaunch.

The boat has an old patch from years ago. During the sulking, the patch rotted or softened or whatever. I proudly launched my boat and new motor and got about 100 feet and noticed water swirling about my feet. Renee climbed up to stand on her seat and scream "TITANIC!". My boatlift was another 300 feet and I had put it in a position to receive the boat already. I gunned the new motor and the race was on. We made it, but just barely. We almost came to rest on the bottom. It ruined a $300 stainless propeller.

We were safely on the boatlift. Wheeewww!

.........now, however, we have a sinking boat, safely on the boatlift, 400 feet from the boat landing and the trailer needed to take it to the boat repair guy.

....a few years ago, I built this solid sun shade for the boat lift out of aluminum. I used some towing straps and come-alongs to raise the boat so access could be gotten to make the repair.............on the boatlift..........

....then I convinced my boat repair guy to make a house call, lay on his back (like Michael Angelo painting the ceiling of the Sistine chapel), on a piece of plywood, over the lake, under a heavy precariously suspended boat. ......ain't money wonderful?

.......It took him about 2 hours to do the fiberglass repair............

.......he used a simple inexpensive kit and a chunk of fiberglass he slipped inside and bolted to reinforce.....

......now she is as good as new. We re-launched it with the new motor. It was great when we went around the lake and felt the breeze on our faces. Trouble with the breeze on our face is that it took the smell of burning plastic away from our noses. The new (actually, old and used, Duh?) motor has a failed water pump and our ride was ended with yet another ruined motor...........

....here I am paddling "back to the drawing board"................

We did eventually find another old, used motor. They are scarce, for some reason. It runs well enough to do some tubing, but need some tuning and a power prop to do skiing.

Thursday, September 23, 2010

PETROGLYPH NATIONAL MONUMENT IS OPERATED BY THE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE, AND IS LOCATED RIGHT ACROSS THE ROAD BEHIND AMY’S NEW HOME IN ALBUQUERQUE,NM.

OUR TOUR/HIKE STARTED AT THE VISITOR’S CENTER.

THIS IS THE ONLY PETROGLYPH YOU ARE ALLOWED TO TOUCH IN THE PARK.

WE WERE LUCKY ENOUGH TO HAVE OUR OWN JUNIOR RANGER TO GUIDE US ON OUR ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIKE.

AND HERE HE IS AS THE LEADER OF OUR HIKE, OUR VERY OWN EDDIE SAUCER. HE EARNED THE JUNIOR RANGER BADGE ON HIS FIRST TRIP TO THE PARK.

ALONG THE TRAIL OUR JUNIOR RANGER HAD TO STOP AND HAVE A LITTLE RANGER TALK WITH A REGULAR RANGER.

HERE IS AN EXAMPLE OF AN UNDERWHELMING PETROGLYPH.

I SAY UNDERWHELMING BECAUSE THE ROCK SCRAMBLE WAS FAR MORE FUN, AND NOBODY REALLY KNOWS ANYTHING ABOUT PETROGLYPHS. WHAT DO THEY MEAN? HOW OLD ARE THEY? WHO DID THEM? NOBODY REALLY KNOWS…..

AFTER THREE DIFFERENT TRAILS, THE GROUP WAS READY TO RETURN HOME AND GET ORGANIZED FOR THE PACKER GAME, BUT OUR GUIDE, THE JUNIOR RANGER, WAS NOT READY. BESIDES HIS SCREAMING OBJECTIONS, WE WERE ALL PUT ON THE “NAUGHTY LIST”.

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

WORKING ONLY FOUR DAYS A WEEK DURING THE “SHOULDER SEASON” ALLOWS US SATURDAY, SUNDAY, AND MONDAY OFF. TIME FOR A ROADTRIP.

SO WE WERE OFF TO ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO TO VISIT AMY, DAN, AND THE BOYS. AT 525 MILES, IT SEEMS LIKE A LONG ROAD TRIP, BUT 490 MILES OF OF THE TRIP IS STRAIGHT EAST ON INTERSTATE 40 AT 80 MILES AN HOUR.

ALSO THE PARK WHICH INCLUDES A SWIMMING POOL, HOT TUB, COMMUNITY BUILDING, AND PLAY GROUND.

SUNDAY MORNING I WAS UP EARLY AND SLIPPED INTO THE BACKYARD FOR MY COFFEE AND A CIGARETTE. EDDIE (THE 5 YEAR OLD) SOON JOINED ME, AND WHILE KICKING AROUND THE SAND PROCEEDED TO GIVE ME AN IN YOUR FACE NO-SMOKING LECTURE! THIS WASN’T THE TYPICAL 5 YEAR OLD QUICKIE LECTURE, IT CAME COMPLETE WITH QUESTIONS I WAS FORCED TO ANSWER: HOW LONG HAVE YOU SMOKED? WHY DO YOU SMOKE? HOW MUCH DO YOU SMOKE? WHEN DID YOU START SMOKING? IT’S BAD TO SMOKE! WHY DON’T YOU STOP SMOKING? I HAD TO LOOK AROUND AND SEE IF MY BROTHER, THE REAL DOCTOR, WAS STANDING THERE OR EDDIE? THE FINAL QUESTION HE ASKED WAS IF I ASKED MY MOTHER BEFORE I STARTED SMOKING?

IN TWO WEEKS THE WORLD FAMOUS HOT AIR BALLOON FESTIVAL IS IN ALBUQUERQUE. FROM AMY’S BACK YARD I COUNTED AS MANY AS 18 HOT AIR BALLONS IN THE SKY PRACTICING. THIS ONE LANDED RIGHT ACROSS THE ROAD FROM THE BACK YARD.

IT WAS A GREAT ROADTRIP AND VISIT WITH MY THREE GRANDSONS, THANKS AMY AND DAN FOR YOUR HOSPITALITY, AND TUNE IN FOR THE NEXT BLOG AS WE GET A PRIVATE GUIDED TOUR OF THE PETROGLYPH NATIONAL MONUMENT FROM A JUNIOR RANGER.

Saturday, September 18, 2010

We recently came into possession of a gift certificate to a local "fine dining" restaurant. Wow, to us going out to eat is an EVENT. A very rare occasion to be sure.

The menu is displayed next to the door so I studied it over before "the big night". I pretty much knew what I wanted before I walked in.

Sea bass.........really tasty....but before that we had an appetizer

Escargot....the last time we had escargot was at Paris on the patio watching the fountains at the Bellagio. Equally good at both places!! We also had scallops wrapped in bacon as an appetizer. Rex also had lobster bisque but I had a really great salad.

Rex had steak and garlic mashed potatoes....the sample he gave me was really tasty.

The "Happy Campers" at the end of a great meal.....maybe we can get into this "date night" thing again!!

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

WE ARE TRYING TO GET SETTLED BACK INTO BLACKSTONE RV PARK. SAME, END OF THE ROW SITE. OF COURSE AS SOON AS WE LEFT THE MOUNTAINS A HEAT WAVE DECENDED ON THE VALLEY. LOOKS LIKE A 103 DEGREES THIS AFTERNOON.

MAKES IN TUFF TO WORK OUTSIDE AND GET EVERYTHING WHERE IT BELONGS.

AS YOU CAN SEE WE ARE STILL UNPACKING.

THEN COMES FALL. USUALLY IN THE FALL WE TAKE A NICE LONG VACATION, I REMEMBER ONE FALL WE LEFT LAKE TAHOE AFTER LABOR DAY AND DIDN’T GO BACK TO WORK TILL THE FIRST OF DECEMBER. THREE MONTHS OF VACATION, AH…. SWEET !!!

OR LAST FALL WHEN WE FLEW TO CAYE CAULKER, BELIZE, CENTRAL AMERICA. OH, THE GOOD OLE DAYS …….

GEES, I’M MAKING MYSELF A LITTLE “BLUE” AS GRANDMA GARMS USED TO SAY. ANOTHER CONTRIBUTING FACTOR IS THAT NEXT WEEK-END IS CHEESE DAYS IN MONROE, WI, AND MY BROTHERS, AND MOST OF MY FIRST COUSINS WILL BE THERE TO CELEBRATE OUR SWISS HERITAGE.

WHAT FUN CHEESEDAYS CAN BE, REMEMBER MARY MILKING A COW ON THE TOWN SQUARE,

AND TWICE WE INVITED 25-30 PEOPLE FOR BREAKFAST IN CAMP.

UNCLE HANS HAS PROMISED TO DO SOME BLOGS FROM CHEESEDAYS THIS YEAR. THANKS UNCLE HANS!

SO WHAT’S UP THIS FALL? YOU ASK. WE’VE GOT A FEW ROADTRIPS PLANNED, SO KEEP TUNED INTO THE BLOG.

OF COURSE FALL BRINGS ON A NEW LIST OF JOBS AND MAINTAINENCE DUTIES TO DO. PERSONALLY I LIKE SUMMER WHEN THERE ISN’T A “TO DO LIST”.

THE HAPPY CAMPERS

WE STARTED THIS BLOG IN THE SPRING OF 2006 TO KEEP OUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS "UP TO SPEED" ON OUR DAILY LIVES, LIVING IN A 34 FOOT CAMPER. WE USE THE "HODGEPODGE" APPROACH TO BLOGGING AND INCLUDE WHAT WE'RE THINKING, GUEST ENTRIES, DAILY LIFE, CASINO STORIES, COOKING STORIES, TRAVEL STORIES, AND A GENEROUS PINCH OF BULLSHIT.MARY AND I SHARE IN THE WRITING OF THE BLOG, AND REX ALWAYS TYPES IN ALL CAPITAL LETTERS, SO YOU CAN TELL WHOM IS WRITING.

OUR WEATHER

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By Uncle Hans

BLOG ENTRIES WRITTEN BY "UNCLE HANS", ARE WRITTEN BY MY BROTHER HANS. HANS LOVES TO WRITE WHEN SO MOVED AND HAS JOINED OUR "TEAM" SO TO SPEAK. THANKS FOR THE BLOG ENTRIES "UNCLE HANS"!!!

Uncle Hans and Renee

REX AND UNCLE HANS

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